Bart Lang, Director of Racing of Lone Star Park at Grand Prairie spoke on Monday, October 23 in the ACBS 342-Organization & Administration of the Racing Department class.

Bart has been a member of the Lone Star Park racing department since the track opened twenty years ago. Since Lone Star runs a separate Quarter Horse and Thoroughbred meet, Bart was able to compare and contrast the way the racing office writes races, allocates purse money and discuss the horse population for each meet.

Bart brought some of the “tools of the trade” with him: matrix sheets, condition books for both meets as well as rundowns, overnights, intoday sheets and off races. He explained that it is important to find horses in off races a spot to run in.

Bart discussed the importance of keeping track of purses allocated per day as well as handle per race to see if races need to be moved within the card. He said that he places his fuller fields towards the back of the card to drive simulcast handle. Lastly, he spoke about deciding how many days per week and races per day can be run since the horse population is declining at all tracks. The students learned some valuable information to use on their matrix project, and the factors that affect real world racing office decisions.